Table 2.

Network metric definitions

Network metric	Definition
Node set size	Total number of nodes (ie, staff members) in the network.
Average distance	The average shortest path between nodes. This statistical measure helps evaluate the efficiency of information transfer.
Clustering coefficient	A higher clustering coefficient indicates a decentralized network and diffusion of information between staff.
Diffusion	Computes the degree to which something could be easily diffused (ie, spread) throughout the network. This is based on the distance between nodes. A large diffusion value means that nodes are close to each other, and a smaller diffusion value means that nodes are farther apart.
Density	Ratio comparing existing links to all possible links in the communication network.
Weighted density	Strength of density connections based on frequency.
Betweenness centralization	Network-level measure that helps identify how dependent the network is on specific providers.
Eigenvector centralization	Network-level measure. High eigenvector centralization indicates that a small group of nodes (ie, staff members) form a group that is fairly densely connected.